-The Hindu The Water Resources Ministry has sought the help of L. Rajagopal — the businessman-cum-Member of Parliament from Vijayawada with major interests in large-scale water projects — to organise an event on Wednesday on interlinking of rivers. Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal will be the chief guest at the “Dialogue on Inter Linking of Rivers: Issues and Challenges.” Mr. Rajagopal is the chairman of the Organising Committee for the event...

-People's Democracy IT seems the Sheila Dixit government of Delhi, backed by powerful elements in the UPA-2 central government, will let nothing stand in the way of water privatisation in the capital. Several earlier attempts going back many years to fully or partially privatise distribution of water, especially the big loan application to the World Bank in 2005, were foiled by vigilant community organisations, public interest groups, trade unions and political...

-The Indian Express A little over 11 years ago, when the Congress defeated the Asom Gana Parishad and Tarun Gogoi took over as chief minister of Assam, people had their doubts. Would this man who had spent most of his political career since 1971 as a Lok Sabha member be able to run this state? The state, with its unique tangle of ethnicity and politics, has, after all, always been a...

-The Times of India The attack on three environment and RTI activists across the country in less than two weeks has brought to the fore how environmentalism is a dirty and sometimes violent game in the hinterland unlike the soft, candle-lighting tiger-loving green activism in big cities.  Akhil Gogoi in Assam, Bharat Jhunjhunwala in Uttarakhand and Ramesh Agrawal in Chhattisgarh - green activists who used RTI to their advantage - were attacked...

-The Hindu Lack of irrigation found to be one of the major causes of farmer suicides Lack of irrigation is one of the major causes leading to cotton farmer suicides in Maharashtra, a new study by the Council of Social Development (CSD) has stated. Titled ‘Socio-economic impact assessment of Bt cotton in India,’ the study has yet again raised the question of whether the marginal land of Vidarbha is suited for Bt...